China Longyuan Power Quits Australian Wind Farm Auction

Competition for a stake in an Australian wind farm is thinning, after a key shortlisted party pulled its interest.

China Longyuan Power Group Corp won’t submit a final offer in an auction for a stake in Boco Rock wind farm, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

China’s largest wind-power producer had been shortlisted alongside Thailand’s Electricity Generating PCL as potential buyers of a stake in the New South Wales state wind farm, The Wall Street Journal reported last month.

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Thailand’s Egco remains likely to submit a final bid by the Apr. 24 deadline, separate people familiar with the matter said. It could acquire between 50% and 100% of Boco Rock, depending on whether General Electric Co.'s energy investment arm GE Energy Financial Services exercises its option over half of the wind farm’s equity.

Egco president Sahust Pratuknukul said last month that the Bangkok-listed company plans to make investments worth 15 billion Thai baht (US$518 million) in the coming year.

Among its targets are “joint ventures in renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar power plant projects,” he said, adding that its offshore focus would be in neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Interest in the Boco Rock wind farm, which will have up to 107 megawatts of installed generating capacity, shows overseas investors are becoming more confident that they can make a profit from renewable energy projects.

Hong Kong-listed Longyuan, which has a market value of $7.6 billion, had an accumulated pipeline capacity of wind power projects of 63.1 gigawatts as at Dec. 31. The group’s wind power generation rose 32.7%, while coal power generation declined 5.3% in the first quarter of 2013, compared with the same period a year earlier.

The entire Boco Rock project, planned by Continental Wind Partners and Wind Prospect Group, will have an enterprise value of around 300 million Australian dollars (US$311 million), and its first stage of development includes 66 wind turbines. Australian government approval has been received to double the wind farm’s size to up to 122 turbines.

In September, EnergyAustralia signed a power purchase agreement, which includes acquiring the output and renewable energy certificates generated from Boco Rock’s first stage. EnergyAustralia is the Australian unit of Hong Kong-listed power generator CLP Holdings Ltd.

Egco also sought to buy a stake in two of Australia’s biggest wind farms from closely held renewable energy producer Hydro Tasmania, a process that was eventually won by China’s Guohua Energy Investment Co., a unit of state-owned enterprise Shenhua Group.